Forum Discussion

Dave606's avatar
Dave606
Fibre optic
30 days ago

Moving providers, but Virgin doesn't recognise account number for OTS process!

So we are out of contract, far from happy with current out of contract price of £78.35  the online re-contract price is a joke at £53.28 for 1 gig 18 month contract when the previous price was £49.11 and new customer contracts are currently £37.99, so not wanting to call to negotiate this time.  So we have today switched providers with a much better deal and no mid contract price rise.  Yes, some may well point out "but that's a new customer price and your not a new customer now" etc.  But based on what anyone out of contract can only do is compare new customer, or more new contract prices is what we can only do to evaluate such offers.

Anyways, to my point, only despite checking the correct virgin account details with the new provider several times to be correct, the request to Virgin to initiate the OTS was rejected by Virgin each time telling the new provider it didn't don't recognise or could not find the account details.

So how can we have an easy process like OTS for consumers only for Virgin seemingly not complying with the process citing account details can't be found?.

I don't want to be calling Virgin to be given the often heavy sales pitch to stay etc, I just want them to comply with the OTS process.  

6 Replies

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    30 days ago

    If I look for 1Gbps broadband on the VM website it shows £37.99 p.m. then increasing to £41.49 in April 2026 (a £3.50 increase each year seems common on here). It has been mentioned on here recently that VM is moving to 24 month contracts.

    If you are trying to negotiate with VM you need the new customer pricing of your alternatives in mind to compare with the above.

    There have been endless topics on here about VM's current renewal strategy which seems more of a sledgehammer attempt to keep customers locked in to high prices rather than trying to provide competitive deals.

    VM's renewal approach is to try to extract as much money as possible from each customer. The amount the customer pays depends on a whole range of things including the negotiating skill of the customer, the offers available to the agent and the package/services being renewed.

    Some people struggle to get a deal. Others have reported getting new customer pricing. It's a lottery.

    Some have got new customer pricing with VM by closing down an existing account and getting another person in the household to open a new one. That's not without its problems (including the admin involved to return equipment and close/open accounts, the loss of email addresses and the loss of existing landline numbers etc. etc.). But some have used it as a means to continue with a VM connection for a cheaper price.

    We have also seen quite a few topics on failed OTS where VM has failed to do some part of the transaction (TV is not covered under OTS AFAIK).

    Is the notification of a failed OTS as a result of you entering your info into the new supplier's web page or is the supplier trying to initiate the transfer based on the details you provided and then notifying you it hasn't worked? The gaining provider is suppose to lead the entire process and deal with the losing provider.

    OTS is a relatively new process and there still seem to be issues for some which are only compounded by adding in a dose of VM 'confusion' into the mix.

  • John_GS's avatar
    John_GS
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    30 days ago

    Good evening Dave606 

    Thanks for posting and welcome back to the community. Sorry to hear of this issue with leaving us.

    I'll send you a PM now to check on the One Touch Switch.

    Best,

    • Dave606's avatar
      Dave606
      Fibre optic
      27 days ago

      Thanks for both the replies above and via PM.

      I have just now received a phone call from youfire over canceling the order to switch to them (still leaving virgin all the same).  They are still trying to push I simply cancel virgin (which I still intend to do via a now an alternative provider eventually), pay any early termination fee and apply to youfibre to cover this cost which they say they will.  But they seem unwilling to try reapplying the OTS request or contacting Virgin directly to enquire what the issue is. So equally unconfident I would definitely get any ETF back also.

      Of interest, youfibre have now claimed 90% of OTS requests to virgin are getting rejected anyway, they are suggesting possibly the way virgin hold account details for OTS match purposes are different from the account details provided.  I've no idea what's involved in the OTS process, but this seems somewhat a bizarre response as the initial OTS  request a few days ago was simply my virgin account details and address, so failing to see where a matching problem might occur that is according to youfibre causing 90% or requests to get rejected?

      • Matthew_ML's avatar
        Matthew_ML
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        27 days ago

        We can see you are currently in DM with my colleague Dave606.

        Any further questions please do go back to this DM.